Romanian orphan studies: Effects of institutionalisation Flashcards
What is institutionalisation?
The effect of institutional care
Give an example of an institution.
An orphanage
Who conducted the Romanian orphan study?
Rutter
How many Romanian orphans were a part of Rutter’s study?
165
How many of Rutter’s Romanian orphans were adopted before the age of 2?
111
How many of Rutter’s Romanian orphans were adopted after the age of 2?
54
What type of study did Rutter conduct?
A longitudinal study
Who did Rutter interview?
Parents and teachers
Who were the Romanian orphans compared to?
52 British adoptees
What did Rutter find about his Romanian orphans at the time of adoption?
They lagged behind their British counterparts in physical, cognitive and social development
What did Rutter find about his Romanian orphans at the age of 4 years?
Some children had caught up with their British counterparts
What did Rutter find in orphans adopted after 6 months?
They showed disinhibited attachments and had problems with peer relationships
What do institutions cause children to lose?
Their personal identity
What was the average IQ of the orphans adopted early?
102
What was the average IQ of the orphans adopted later?
77
What were the signs of disinhibited attachments in Rutter’s orphans?
Being friendly/affectionate with strangers
Was there a size difference between Romanian orphans and control group?
Yes - smaller
What does growing up in an institution do to the internal working model?
Causes a bad schema regarding relationships
What did Quinton find?
Ex-institutional women went on to be poor parents
What are the 4 institutionalisation AO3 points?
1) RWA
2) Individual differences
3) Confounding variables
4) Criticisms of the study
What do Rutter’s findings have real world applications to?
Improving the lives of children placed in care
What applications do Rutter’s findings have to adoption?
Shows importance of early adoption - most babies adopted within 1 week nowadays
Why are individual differences important in institutionalisation?
Not all children who suffer the effects of institutionalisation are unable to recover
What individual differences may have led some children to cope better with institutionalisation than others?
Being shown more attention, smiling more etc
What were the conditions of the Romanian orphanages like?
Appalling
Why is it problematic that Rutter’s study was a natural study?
Participants not randomly allocated - sample bias
What validity is Rutter’s study high in?
Ecological validity
What do longitudinal studies suffer from?
Attrition
